Career: Instructional Coordinators
While you may never have heard of instructional coordinators, they play a vital role in the school community. They help schools meet government standards for what students achieve and how they achieve it. They keep an eye on student and teacher progress and recommend improvements. They seek out the best books and technology for classrooms, and help everyone learn how to use them. Simply put, they help teachers teach and learners learn.
Instructional coordinators measure student learning, train teachers, develop and order educational materials, and help teachers learn how to use new technology. They often specialize in a subject such as math.
Did You Know?
- Until the early twentieth century, many American students still attended one-room schoolhouses. Some of these schools are now hands-on museums where kids can write with quill pens and carry their lunch in old-fashioned pails.
Are You Ready To...?
- Train teachers
- Develop and order educational materials
- Measure students' learning and make improvements as needed
- Stay up-to-date on the latest educational technology
- Gain expertise in a school subject
- Go to meetings
It Helps to Be...
Comfortable making decisions that affect classroom learning. You'll also want to be organized, so you can juggle many projects in several schools. You'll enjoy this work if you are equally comfortable with people, books, and computer technology.
Make High School Count
- Get experience as a volunteer or paid tutor.
- Shoot for leadership roles in youth groups and sports activities so you can get used to making decisions that affect others.
- Find out who at your school orders materials and makes decisions about what teachers teach and how they do so. Ask how you can help.
- Study your teachers. As they help your class learn, observe what techniques work best and why.
- When you read textbooks or use educational software, ask yourself how these materials are put together. Do they communicate information in an appealing and thoughtful way?
Did You Know?
- While most instructional coordinators work in schools, some pursue careers in other areas, such as business management.
Outlook
Government economists expect job growth for instructional coordinators to be much faster than the average for all careers through 2016. Federal, state, and local governments are coming up with new standards for how and what students should learn. In order to meet those standards, more schools will need instructional coordinators.
You'll improve your opportunities if you specialize in reading, math, or science. It also helps if you can serve students with special needs such as those for whom English is a second language.
Compensation
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that instructional coordinators earned an average salary of $55,570 in 2006.
